Restoration of a Broken Planet
by Trepidin
Summary: Fleeing the planet of Skaerus, Nicholas and Jameson set out for safe haven, and happen upon a planet called Pandora. The Raiders have no idea what the pair would bring to the table. Set in timeline: 4mos after the fall of Handsome Jack.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Escape

* * *

Nick sat down in the co-pilot chair with a huff. "Jesus, that was crazy, Jimmy. I'm surprised this ship made it outta there in one piece!" He exclaimed.

"Well, it was definitely by the skin of our teeth. Kartek really doesn't screw around when they want to get ahold of someone." Jameson adjusted himself in the leather seat, attempting to relax and get more comfortable. "Our shields were down just about the entire time. I thought the whole ship was gonna fly apart once we breached into space."

"Then I guess we should count our lucky fuckin' stars, now shouldn't we?!" Nick laid back in his seat as he stared into the quiet of space.

The dynamic duo barely escaped with their lives... The Kartek Industry of Skaerus was a ruthless and underhanded weapons and consumer tech company, often killing independent inventors and stealing any tech advancements to proclaim as their own. Hell, they even iced a guy who invented a slimline digistruct pack. So it wasn't a surprise when the industry turned their attention to them.

A couple years back, the Skaerusian government issued a law that required citizens to receive an implant chip, which contained the owners personal information, like credit cards, for financial use and security. What the government didn't tell them, was that this was a chip designed to track the owner with a GPS signal, and if they were wanted by law enforcement, the chip could produce an electric shock 15 times more powerful than any handheld taser, which would instantly subdue any offender. The chip was also attached to the central nervous system, and capable of 'manipulations'.

That was not the problem, however. The problem existed in the fact that the chip was made by Kartek. And this chip paved the way for them to control and undermine authority to do as they please with the planet of Skaerus and its denizens. Something had to be done...

Jameson, through a lot of trial and error, and participation from Nicholas, he was able to create a piggyback chip that overrode the functions of the main system at the users discretion. Needless to say, Nick got fried quite a few times in the process, but they both knew they could gain their independence and freedom again if they could circumvent the design. It wasn't long after the fact that Kartek found out about missing information, and begin the search for those two.

Nick looked over to his friend, who was intently scanning holomaps in search of a destination. " So, where we headed?"

"I'm not too sure at the moment. Eden-5 would be the closest planet to dock, but I'm sure that they would have our information by now." Jameson pulled up a screen on the dash hub, showing their photos on wanted posters. "Kartek has already placed a bounty on the both of us." He sighed, mildly concerned with their predicament.

"I kinda expected that. A company full of malicious dickbags with a crapton of money. Of course they would place a bounty; they could save face if somebody else does the dirty work." Nick sighed in disappointment. "So I'm guessing Eden-5 is out of the question..."

"We could land here.." Jameson pointed to a big orange planet on the holomap. "This place doesn't have any governmental influence anymore, since the Hyperion corporation was annihilated about 4 months ago..."

"Hyperion bit the dust? Heh, unsurprising. Their firearms sucked ass. The only one I actually liked was their top-tier shotgun, but it was a pain to get ahold of anyway." Nick stood up from his seat and walked closer to the holomap. "So what else do you know about the planet?"

Jameson cleared his throat before proceeding, "Well, I've been following an echo cast from a young girl named Gaige, who currently lives there, and she-" Jameson noticed his partner staring at him with a raised eyebrow and quizzical facial expression. "What is your issue?"

Nick stifled a giggle, poorly, before forcing himself to attempt to look serious. "Oh, nothing, continue..." He urged.

Jameson seemed very excited as he continued to ramble. "As I was saying, she resides there with a platoon of other comrades, and they were responsible for the demise of the ill-fated Hyperion corporation. I've been listening for quite a while and it seems th-"

Nick cut in, a cracking half-smirk on his face. "Jameson, cut the shit. You liiiiiiiike herrrrrr."

"Dammit, Nicholas! She's an engineer like us!"

"..." Nick just gazed at his partner, smile slowly widening.

"She built a combat robot from spare appliance parts! Its incredible!" Jameson attempted to refute the argument, as his face began to redden in hue. Nick's smile grew wider.

"You know your face is red as hell right now, right?" Nick stated with his shit-eating grin still plastered in place

"Can it before I drop you out the garbage chute." Jameson threatened, setting Nick into a fit of laughter. After finally regaining his composure, he flopped back in his seat, and fastened the harness.

"Alright, fair enough. We'll go there to meet your girlfriend and ha-" Nick couldn't finish before being interrupted.

"SHE IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" Jameson shouted.

"Oh chill out!" Nick shouted with a chuckle. "Alright, we'll drop down there and find someplace to land. Lay low, meet some of the locals. Set course for..." He lifted his gaze to the holomap, reading the name aloud...

"Pandora."

* * *

A/N: My first story! Thank you for reading :) f/f and review please!

Trep


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hello again! I know that last chapter was quite vague, and I apologize. so this one, is HUGE. has quite a bit of detail about the dynamic duo of Nicholas and Jameson, and the various equipment they use. to those who read and enjoy, please F/F/R if you could. I like criticism, but be nice please!

THANKS!

Trep

* * *

Chapter 2: They See Me Trollin'

* * *

"So why are we here again?"

Zero and Gaige had fast-traveled to the Dust. As soon as they arrived, Gaige could feel her throat tense up at the harsh environment. Even on cooler days, it did not take much to parch an adventurer's thirst, due to the stinging winds and ample soft sands beneath their feet. Zero, however, was unfazed. His suit did quite well in harsh climates, as his helmet could easily shield him from the torrent of sand.

"It is quite simple / I wish to test equipment / a gun and a shield." Spoke the enigmatic assassin. He seemed to be quite impatient.

"OK, so what's so special about them? Can I see them?"

Zero produced a dark blue shield from his pack, along with a small red pistol with a HUGE bayonet, and handed them to her. She waved her mechanical hand over the gear, and checked her ECHO device. "This gives me a chance to try out the ECHO scanner I just Installed... Ah, here we-" She paused.

"Holy shit! A slag model Evisceration Rubi?! That's insane! How'd you nab this?! I've only ever seen Moxxi use this pistol before!"

Zero explained, "It was my payment. / I resupplied Moxxi's bar, / it was quite worth it." He had an aura of pride about him, as if he has been searching for a weapon of this caliber and capability for some time.

"But this shield," she analyzed, puzzled, "its capacity is mediocre, and the time it takes to recharge is, like, the worst I have ever seen! Why would you want something like this?"

"It's a Maylay shield. / my blade is enhanced tenfold, / when my shield goes down." Zero spoke with a smugness in his voice. "And, not only that, / the shield is quite explosive / after every strike."

"That's AWESOME! I gotta see these babies in action! ...To Goose's Roost?" Gauge questioned, ecstatic to see Zero's skills with his newfound weaponry. He nodded, and they sprinted towards the Catch-a-Ride station.

As they were nearing the cliff ramp, Zero shouted, "Once we reach the base, / Quickly find yourself cover./ I will slaughter them."

"Awwww!" Gaige huffed, crossing her arms and pouting. "Fine, but the next bandit camp we raid is MINE!" A red [ LOL ] appeared on Zero's visor as they made their jump, crashing into the landing pad beneath them. They both bolted from the runner for cover behind a stack of wooden crates. It didn't take very long for them to be noticed by the locals... A runner makes a lot of noise when it hits the ground, especially from a 10-story drop. Wood splinters and buckshot sprayed everywhere as the bandits attempted to fend off the random intrusion.

Zero reached into his pack, pulled out a shock transfusion grenade, and pulled the pin as he leapt from cover. Gaige's eyes grew wide, noticing that Zero had yet to throw it, and it was still live in his hands.

"Are you crazy!? Chuck that thing already!" She screamed, but the grenade detonated in his gloved palm. His shield immediately flickered and fizzled, discharging completely.

"Its part of the plan. / they will never see me coming, / Their death will be swift!" Zero gloated, as he cast out his hologram. Gauge tried desperately to follow his movement as he cloaked and ran towards the clustered camp. Suddenly, the sound of sharpened metal against flesh could be heard, followed by a deafening explosion, and the closest bandit to her position flew to pieces, his limbs flying in multiple directions, and his body disintegrating, replaced by zero's clone. A marauder, close by, screamed and fired at the decoy, only to be impaled by Zero's bayonet, and promptly eviscerated by the ensuing explosion. Zero traveled quickly, felling bandits left and right, as Gaige simply gazed, slack jawed and baffled.

She finally found words to speak, "My god, I want that shield for Deathtrap..."

The aftermath of Zero's rampage was quite messy... Charred limbs and heads littered the encampment. Blood and bile stained the dust-covered buildings, and pooled in the crevices in the ground.

"Exhilarating, / this gear is simply unfair / I am immortal." Zero was awestruck, and in love. Never has his killing speed been this far advanced.

Gaige was completely ridiculous at this point, babbling at hyper speed about maylay potency, "life tap", and other scientific marvels... Her words were practically incoherent. Zero scoffed to himself, proud of his accomplishments.

The moment was cut short, when a massive shadow fell over them, covering Goose's roost. The pair fixed eyes upward as a huge starship glided over the mountains and settled in the clearing beside Ellie's garage.

The ship's design was massive, easily dwarfing the size of a Hyperion drop barge. The shape was similar to the design to early historic stealth planes, but dwarfed them in size as well. From nose to tail, the ship was colored a shimmering gloss black, while the cockpit windows were an equally shiny blue. It had simple wing-mounted missile pods, and collapsible chain cannons located underneath the nose. Put simply, this was one bad bird.

"What... The... Hell..." These were the only words Gaige could seem to choke out, astonished at the site of this monstrous spacecraft. "Well, what do we do Zero?"

"We shall approach them. / We've no side who they are... / We must be cautious." Zero leaped from the side of the mountaun village towards the ship, and sidled against some rocks nearby to observe, Gaige following close behind.

"Should we call HQ for backup? I'm sure Lilith and the crew would really want to know why a huge-ass ship is sitting here."

"Absolutely, Gaige. / Contact them now while we wait, / I'll go scout around."

* * *

Jameson scanned the area, known simply as The Dust, assessing their surroundings. "This planet is very odd... We definitely cruised over an icy wasteland not more than an hour ago... Its' ecosystems are small and contained. I've never seen anything like it."

Nick nodded. "Yeah, I found that pretty weird myself. Oh well, it's time to roll out." He stood up and stretched hard, popping multiple vertebrae. His white fitted T-shirt contorted with him as he tried to shrug off The discomfort of the long trip.

The ship seemed even bigger inside, as it was complete with living quarters for the 2 partners, along with a guest room, a weapons cache, a lab near the back corner of the ship, and a small computer network room, consisting of the backup data from the lab.

Nick stumbled to his room, and grabbed a fresh white tee, and a pair of black, baggy cargo pants from his dresser, and made his way to the shower. He was the brawn of their duo, and looked as such, with a chiseled torso, and large, solid arms and legs. He spent most of his time during their pilgrimage in the onboard gym, tucked away in the corner of the data room.

After a lengthy shower, Nick creeped out of the stall and toweled off, reaching for his fresh clothes and fitting them. He stared onto the mirror, admiring himself. He had short, spiky, jet black hair and deep green eyes, and a small scar running through his right eye, and a small creased scar that followed his jawline on the left. He was clean shaven, except for a small patch at the center of his chin.

"Damn... I'm lookin' good!" He said to himself with a smirk, as he used the towel to fluff his hair to stand on end from front to back, and combed the sides to sweep back behind the ear. Satisfied with his appearance, he left his personal quarters.

"You're awfully prettied up to be venturing out into the desert, ya know?" Jameson had exited his quarters as well, wearing a small green jacket, sleeves rolled to the elbow, and covering his darker green T-shirt underneath. He was wearing blue cargos, adorned with many pockets and a harness with clips and storage areas. On his side was a large, pearl-colored blade, with a blue hilt, complete with a green knuckled attachment to protect its wielder's fingers.

Jameson was not as bulky as his partner, but he was definitely still in shape. He was just shy of 6', and was toned evenly throughout his body. He had long, blonde hair, and an unusual orange eye color. His face was completely shaved, revealing a small scar on the side of his neck.

"Dude, I gotta look good. I have an image to uphold, ya know?" Nick argued.

"Please. You've met nobody on this planet. Who are you trying to impress?" Jameson scoffed.

"Anyone and everyone. Let's load up." The partners headed down the hallway to the armory.

The partners walked Into the room, and Jameson entered a large key code into the digital pad just inside the door. As he hit enter, a small alarm went off as multiple shutter doors opened, revealing a cavalcade of firearms and supplies on rotation tables. In the center, was a long, slant-grip pistol. The barrel was almost 3 feet long, chambered 15 rounds, and had large bayonets on the top and bottom, molded to the barrel. The tips of each blade extended slightly past the barrel, making this monster of a weapon just as capable of melee combat, as it was to take out ranged attackers.

"Oh, how I have missed you..." Nick cooed, picking up the weapon, and attaching a small red-dot sight to the base between the blades.

"Not as much as I missed her!" Spoke Jameson, picking up a small chip and a flat, boxy looking pistol. There were no flairs to the design, except for blue circuitry humming quietly inside. Jameson slid up the sleeve on his green jacket, revealing a small metal port grafted to the inside of his arm. He slid the small chip into the port, which glowed orange for a moment, then flickered green. The only thing left on the shelf was a small set of metallic gloves, thin and tight, with rubber between the plating for flexibility.

"Initiate boot sequence." His eyes, chip socket, gloves and gun flashed bright orange, charging to life after a few weeks of being on standby mode.

A small holographic figure materialized in Jameson's left hand, curled up in a ball. As it unfurled, it revealed to be a woman, outlined in blue, while her body was an orange shade similar to his eyes. The figure was slender, and seem to have a body suit that was also outlined in the same blue. She also had long, red, whispy hair, that tusled with her every movement.

"Welcome back, Tess. How was your sleep cycle?" Jameson asked his AI companion.

"Good afternoon, J. I am 100% ready to go!" The AI spoke in a cheery voice.

"Wonderful. It's been 7 weeks since you've been online, so we should go through Diagnostics and weapons testing. I know it annoys you to-"

"Already on it." The AI spoke. "Solar core is at 94% and charging, memory is currently using 23%, and processor speed is at 2.9ghz. Would you like to modify any settings?"

Jameson stared wide-eyed at his artificial companion. "You impress me more and more each day. Is your uplink to the ship stable? We may need to operate it remotely if things get haywire."

"Yes, J. Seems the ship has suffered some external damage on the underside. Would you like me to initiate repair protocol?"

"Read my mind. Affirmative. When you're finished, Initiate the UFS system please." Jameson moved the bland pistol in his hand, waiting patiently.

"Initiating repairs..." She blinked her eyes, and stared into space for a period of about 30 seconds. "Repairs made, J. Executing boot for the Universal Firearms System."

With that command, the pistol sparked to life, glowing orange, and morphing. Raw data surrounded the gun, and after materializing, a long rifle was in his hand, complete with a huge scope, and a 15-round magazine. It had green pulsating light lines on it, displaying the digital circuitry of the weapon.

"Previous configuration displayed. Any changes you would like to make?" Tess spoke.

"Swap to barrel 6, and change to AR config, please." Jameson ordered. The sniper rifle shifted in shape, the barrel shortening by 9 inches, while the chamber rematerialized similar to a blowback assault rifle.

"Changes made. Would you like to keep the existing scope?" Asked Tess.

"No need, Tess. I'll be needing it, I'm sure. Thank you." Jameson said.

Nick strode over, weapon in hand, and wrapped his arm around his partner's shoulder. "You know, you save all the best toys for yourself. That's bullshit. Any way you can convert the blades and barrel on this thing to be variable?"

"I think the first step would be to get you an AI to control your weapons program and your shield. Then we can tinker with the weapon itself." Jameson affirmed. "Ready to deploy? I believe that there is a woman named Ellie, who lives out here who could give us some information."

"How do you know of this 'Ellie'? You never mentioned this beforehand."

At his partner's remark, Jameson simply looked out of the cockpit's window and pointed, shaking his head. In plain view, was Ellie's sign.

Nick facepalmed. "Not a word. I don't wanna hear a fucking word. Let's get moving."

They walked over to the left side of the hull, and stood in a painted-off square. Jameson smacked a button on a small control panel, and they began their descent into the sands and winds of The Dust.

* * *

A/N: AAAAAAAND that wraps up chapter 2! Next chapter: the confrontation. Thanks!

Trep


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: ALRIGHTY! Time for some more action! Thanks to those of you who read so far. :D review and fave if you enjoyed it :D MORE TO COME VERY SOON! THANKS!

PS, I apologize in advance if there is any formatting issues in a portion of this. blame FF, not me XD. If so, I will attempt to fix.

Trep

* * *

Chapter 3: The Confrontation

* * *

"Lilith, we have a GIANT ASS starship that just landed in the dust! You might wanna get down here!" Gauge screamed over the ECHOnet. She was still perched at the small rocks, but started to panic once she seen the drop lift begin to descend.

"Take a chill pill, killer. Is there any insignia or emblems on the side of the ship?"

"Well, no. Its just a plain black ship, that happens to be big as hell! And it seems like 2 guys are coming down on a drop lift. Zero is scouting ahead, but if things are gonna get crazy, it'll be any second now. We're located at the base of the mountain, below Goose's Roost." Gaige stammered into her COM implant on her wrist.

"Alright, girly. I'll be incoming in about-" her voice cut off, as she instantly appeared next to Gaige. "Now."

* * *

As the duo hit the sand, they stepped cautiously off of the platform. Gazing at their surroundings, Nick spoke first. "This place sucks! I can barely breathe without getting a mouthful of sand!" He spat in the dirt, almost gagging at the taste of sand in his throat

"Well, you could always breathe through your NOSE, you know?" Jameson retorted, stifling a small giggle.

"Fuck you, Jimmy." He went to walk away, when all of a sudden, a shining blue blade appeared across his neck. He froze, and turned to Jameson, who was just as rigid, staring at a pistol bayonet pressed against his throat. The figure holding the weapons materialized into a tall, skinny man in a black helmet, and a padded body suit.

"Don't you even move, / lest you wish to meet your end. / State your business here." Zero spoke coldly.

Nick was the first to speak, and not a wise choice of words...

"You'd better put that sword back where it belongs, chrome dome, unless you want me to stuff the rest of you into that helmet you're wearing." Nick threatened.

"Nick, shut the fuck up!" Jameson panicked, screaming at his partner. "Listen sir, he only wishes to say he means no harm, but putting a sword to his neck would be a waste of time."

"Is that a challenge? / I long for competition. / Challenge accepted." Zero stood, motionless... for about two seconds. it was like he was frozen.

Jameson tensed. Something was odd. "Tess, thermals!" His vision shifted, and he scanned the area quickly, noticing that there were no heat spikes coming from the helmeted assassin. _'This is bad!'_ He thought to himself.

"Cycle E-vision!" His vision changed black, and he noticed an electrical pulse rapidly approaching his partner from his right side. "Nick, 3:00! He's cloaked!"

Nicholas, in one swift motion, snatched his weapon from his back, striking down to his immediate right. His blade collided midair, with the cloaked blade of Zero. As he rematerialized, he had an [ ! ] emoting from his visor.

"How did you DO that?! / my decepti0n shields thermals! / I don't understand..." Spoke Zero, baffled, slowly lowering his blade.

Jameson spoke calmly, "I was blinded in my youth. A freak accident involving some chemicals I was testing blew up in my face. Through Nick, I was able to build a pair of cybernetic visual scanners to replace them. I have since improved them, allowing me to scan thermal signatures, along with a little trinket I like to call E-vision. With it, I can detect electrical currents and their paths. If you were to look through my eyes at me, I would light up like a Christmas tree."

"That's unfortunate, / but your sight helps a great deal. / those eyes saved your friend." Zero remarked, destructing his sword and attaching it back in place, and turned to Nicholas.

"You fight without fear, / even when you're facing death. / you've earned my respect." As he spoke, he reached forward and extended his hand.

After looking at the assassin for a moment, he reached out and clasped Zero's gloved hand. "Ditto. That's a hell of a trick you got there. I'm sure Jimmy over here would love to chat with you about it. The names' Nicholas."

Zero nodded, a [ :) ] appearing from his visor. "A pleasure to meet. / I go by the name 'Zero'." He emoted a single '0' from his helmet. "This is an honor."

Gaige was having trouble coming to terms with all this excitement. "First, Zero singlehandedly slaughters an entire bandit camp with a bayonet in under a minute, and now somebody is able to beat him, MIDSTRIKE!? Nobody beats Zero!" She threw her hands up in the air in defeat. "Hell has officially frozen over. Pigs ARE flying."

"I'm impressed as well, kid. Though we know nothing of these guys, Zero seems to trust them. And you know how good he is at reading people. Guess it's time we meet the new guys." With that said, she placed a hand on Gaige's shoulder, and phased them beside Zero.

Jameson and Nicholas were quite startled, both of them stumbling and falling flat on their asses. "What the fuck!? How many of you are there?!" Shouted Nick.

"I take back my words, / you just damn near pissed yourself. / How hilarious." Zero spoke condescendingly, emoting an [ :) ].

"Eat me, robo-tard. There's a difference between being afraid and being startled." Nick said, defensively.

"Ummm... Hellooooo?!" Gaige shouted, flailing her arms in the air. She clearly didn't like being ignored. "Zero, aren't you gonna introduce us?"

Lilith spoke instead. "Zero won't be able to fit everything these boys need to know into a haiku, and nobody likes a poetic history lesson." Zero's evil smile emote quickly turned upside down. "I'm Lilith, the siren, and leader of the ragtag group known as the Crimson Raiders. You've obviously met Zero, which leaves-"

"Me!" Gaige chimed in, as if on cue. "I'm Gaige, tech genius and 'Mechromancer'."

Nick, now back to his feet, couldn't pass up this opportunity. "Hey Jimmy, isn't she that girl you were stalking on the ECHOcast?"

Jameson's face was beet red, due to a combination of embarrassment and pure rage. He politely smiled to the two women,"Would you excuse me one moment?" He then proceeded to drill-tackle Nick, carrying him 20 yards, in a dead sprint, and pounded him into a nearby mound of sand.

All hell broke loose as Jameson slammed his fist into Nicholas' torso again and again, screaming,

"YOU SON *thwack* "ow."

OFABITCH! *thwack* "ouch."

WE'RE HERE TEN *thwack* "my"

FUCKING *thwack* "kidney"

MINUTES *thwack* "hurts"

AND YOU *thwack* "I'm"

ARE ALREADY EM- *thwack* "sorry"

BARASSING ME! *thwack* "please"

GOD *thwack* "stop"

DAMN *thwack* "hurting"

IIIIIT! *thwack* "meeee."

Jameson finally rose and stepped away from his partner, who was moaning and wheezing on the sand mound. Satisfied with the vengeance he slowly headed towards the girls and Zero

Nick rose a hand and weakly pointed a finger at his partner...

"Totally worth it." He gasped, as he rolled and faced Jameson, a cheeky grin on his face despite the immense pain.

"NRRRRRRAGHYOUMOTHERFUCKERRRR!" Jameson leaped from where he was, gaining massive air, and landing elbow-first into Nick's chest.

"DOOOOOOHHHH! That's a rib!" Nick huffed, but was quickly silenced by a jab to the face, followed by many, many more.

" Do you, umm... Do you think we should pull them apart?" Lilith asked the other two.

"Would probably be a good idea. Zero, incapacitate berzerko over there, please?" Gauge asked.

With one quick dash, Zero was upon Jameson, and swiftly knocked him out cold with the base of his pistol.

"Thanks, killer. Let's get this mess back to Sanctuary."

* * *

AAAND that's Chapter 3! Seeya next time! HA HAAA!

Trep


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hello again!

I decided to drop the backstory bomb in this chapter. I haven't given up much about these guys, but in the next couple chapters, you'll know everything, and Nick may get the crap beat outta him a couple more times, I dunno. XD

Thank you for reading!

Trep

* * *

Chapter 4: Genesis 1:1

* * *

"Ahh, god damn it, this shit smarts."

Nick awoke in what seemed to be a back-alley infirmary. Clutching his abdomen, he looked around to find a large, muscular man in doctor's scrubs and wearing a hospital mask.

"Well, there! Glad to see ya fin'ly woke up! Your buddy put quite the hurtin' on ya. Broke 2 of your ribs and fractured your eye socket, but the Insta-health injections were able to repair that. However, them hypos won't take the pain away, so you'll be in quite a bit of pain for the next couple days. I'm Dr. Zed by the way, resident physician in sanctuary."

"You're damn right it fucking hurts. But this isn't the first time Jimmy kicked my ass. He may not be as big as me, but by god, he's quick. Thank you for your help, Zed." He outstretched his hand weakly, "I'm Nicholas, if nobody told ya already."

Zed reached to shake his hand. "I'll send some potent painkillers with ya, but be light on em. He beat the piss outta your kidneys, so it'll be a few days of injections before they're back to normal. I'd try your best to not provoke another beatin' like that, or else I might not be able to fix ya!" He chuckled to himself.

Nick laughed as well. "I'll try, but no guarantees. I deserved it anyway, but it was worth it. Where can I meet up with everyone?"

"I would imagine they're all at the Raider HQ right now... Its over yonder if ya wanna head over there." He pointed in the direction of the now MASSIVE HQ.

Since the death of Handsome Jack, the crew put plenty of time into sprucing up the flying city, including tripling the size of living quarters of the Raider base. Everyone had their own rooms now, along with an extra 3 empty rooms for possible Vault Hunters. They also made an addition to the meeting room, allowing accommodations to visitors and corporations, if necessary. Finally, they added a full laboratory in the basement of the HQ, which allowed Tennis to experiment and analyze more freely, especially since it would keep her from being up the raiders collective asses all the time.

Nick slowly hobbled over to the headquarters. He was still in pain, but at least he could manage at this point.

"What the hell happened..." Jameson awoke on a small cot. He looked around to see Zero leaning up against the doorway, seemingly keeping watch over him.

"I pistol whipped you. / you beat the shit outta Nick. / he's recovering." Zero stated calmly.

"Wow... I haven't gone off the deep end like that in years. Can you show me where he is?"

They headed out of the guest quarters in HQ, moving to the stairs. As they reached the first floor, they witnessed Nick stumble through the doorway.

Their eyes met, each with a face of what seemed to be contempt and malice. The room filled with a palpable tension. Zero stood, pistol in hand, ready to diffuse the situation

"...Totally worth it." Nick jested, the scowl on his face breaking into a smirk.

Jameson continued to hold his emotionless stare.

...For about 2 seconds. His face twisted, and he busted up laughing. "Dude, you're insane. You look like hamburger right now, and you're still takin' potshots at me." They both cracked up, knowing this wasn't the first time a situation like this happened, nor would it be the last. Despite their partnership, they've known each other for most of their lives. They were brothers. And despite any disagreements, fights, or inevitable provoked beatings, they knew this fact, and whatever happened, they were still brothers at the end of all of it.

"Now that you're both done, / The Raiders want to meet you. / If you'd follow me..." Zero spoke, walking towards the rear of the building. Nick and Jameson followed him into the vast social area, complete with computers, old videogames, and lots of furniture.

Everyone watched skeptically as the two made their way across the room to an unoccupied couch. Lilith spoke up as they sat down. "So, you two still wanna kill each other? Or are you good?"

The duo pounded fists, and Nicholas answered, "We cool. We're bros. We fight. It happens. But we get over it."

Jameson chimed in. "Besides, some of our funniest stories are from us beating the crap outta each other." The men of the room erupted with laughter and giggles, in perfect unison with the women, who unanimously facepalmed and shook their heads.

"I guess boys will be boys. Lemme introduce you to the crew. The woman in yellow with blue hair is Maya. She's a siren like me." Lilith was interrupted by Nick.

"Ummm, the hell's a siren?!"

Lilith began to explain, "We got crazy powers and whatnot. Please hold all questions till the end. The skinny guy with the big-ass bird is Mordecai, and his pet, Talon. The meathead in fatigues over there is Axton. He used to serve for the Dahl military. The short guy with the mohawk is Salvador, and he likes big guns, and can't seem to use just one at a time. The colossus in the corner, that's Brick. He likes punching things, and whatever he hits usually isn't there anymore when he's done. Finally, there's this guy..." She walked over to a monster of a man in the other corner, who wore a full facial gas mask, with one eye port covered. "This is Krieg. He's an unusual one, but he's friendly, and he's one hell of a fighter. Say hi to the noobs, Krieg."

"FACE KEBABS!"

"Close enough. Crew, this is Nicholas, and... Jimmy?"

"Jameson." He corrected.

"Jameson." She repeated. "So what brings you to this rock? I'm sure you didn't visit to sightsee."

Jameson sighed and looked at the floor. "You want the short story or the history lesson?"

Lilith spoke, "We got time. Shoot."

Jameson took a breath and began to speak, when he heard a small female voice. "Aren't you forgetting someone?!"

The was silent, and everyone's face twisted into a quizzical state. "Oh yeah!" Jameson held out his hand, and Tess digistructed in his palm. "This is Tess. I constructed her 6 years ago, when I built my eyes. She helps me control pretty much anything I've made over the years, whether it be my eyes' different scanning frequencies, our ship, or my UFS system."

Gaige immediately jumped to her feet and ran to Jameson's hand. "That's awesome! How did you make her?" She asked, admiringly.

"Well, the explanation goes along with my story... Gather round, kiddies. Daddy's got a story to tell!" Jameson joked, which resulted in chuckles around the room. "Unlike Miss Lilith, here, if you have any questions during the story, please ask."

"Anyhow, we came from the planet Skaerus. We used to live in the Trinity district, sector 6. It was a shit pile, and defending against crime was a everyday occurrence. I was a tech guru, while Nick here, was affiliated with the Registry, a band of teenagers who formed a gang to stay alive. We met up when a group of thugs tried to rob me, and Nick and his gang just happened to be at the right place at the right time."

"I kicked the shit outta all of em." Nick spat. "Its one thing to be a scavenger. That's what we did, and it kept us full, and gave us the necessities we needed to survive. The Registry wasn't a gang of thieves and assholes, we just stuck together because that's all we knew. My mom died when I was 4, and I never knew my father. I scavenged for food for months until the Registry found me. They gave me somewhere to sleep, and food to eat. The pricks that attacked Jimmy, were scum, and I made sure they knew it."

Jameson continued. "My parents were killed in a shuttle crash when I was 14. They were owners of a large communications company, Sheridan International. I became the sole owner of the company after that, but I sold control to my father's advisor for a sum of $86 Million since I was not fit to run a company. I invested the sum into the local stock market, tripled its value, and backed out, securing half of my earnings in an off-planet savings account, so I would never have to work again." "When Nick saved me, I wasn't anywhere near the fighter I am today, and it was he who taught me how to defend myself. As thanks, I took him and his gang into my home, and allowed them to stay for as long as they pleased, in exchange for the scrap metal they found. I had a lot of projects, and it was definitely helpful."

Nick butted in, "It was around that time that he made this." He reached behind his back, and pulled the bladed pistol from his back. "This is a prototype sword rifle, capable of pinpoint accuracy at 3 miles, firing extended 10mm bullets, designed specifically by Jameson to fly perfectly straight, despite wind, and distance. The only effect that can go against it, would be gravity."

Mordecai laughed, "Mierda! The only rifle I've ever seen with anything CLOSE to that accuracy, was Atlas' Cyclops! There's no way!"

"After storytime, you'd better be ready to put your money where your mouth is, pendejo." Nick jeered. Mordecai scrunched his face, giving Nick the "This motherfucker.." face.

Jameson cut in. "Our arrangement went swimmingly. Nick and the Registry found enough parts and metal to build weapons systems, outfitting the gang so they could easily defend themselves in the harsh conditions of Sector 6. I had enough money tied up in savings that I'd never have to work at any establishment, and I could take care of them. I started doing different modifications to weapons, such as ammo-based incendiary rounds. I was able to make them out of a hollowed titanium slug, and a small, but very potent napalm mixture. Unfortunately, my first batch didn't work, and that was how I lost my sight. Tried to fire the round, and it fired, but the blowback flew straight through the casing, snapping the hammer on the pistol I was using, and straight into my eyes."

Everyone in the room gasped and cringed, the visual stabbing into their minds. Gaige asked, "What was wrong that caused it to do that?"

"A good question. I had used aluminum for the original casing concept. Needless to say, the reaction happened inside the pistol's chamber, rather than when it struck its' target." Jameson answered.

Maya piped up, her interest peaked at this point. "So if they were ammo-based effects, would they work with accessories on current firearms?"

"Yes. That was the whole theory behind the experiment. I wanted to create a round that could tandem weapon effects. The way weapon accessories work, is that each round is coated in a solution when it exits the weapon. For example... Incendiary weapons are usually coated with a glycerin-based napalm that activates when the mixture is shaken, like when it hits a victim. Since the bullet itself contained an incendiary solution, using those rounds in a shock weapon would render this effect: once fired, when it hit the target, the shock would disrupt that portion of the shield, allowing the bullet to continue through it, instantaneously, thus piercing shields, and setting the victim ablaze from within."

Lilith piped up, "That's incredible! Why hasn't this been done before?!"

Brick and Salvador both in unison said, "I WANT THAT!" In unison, their mouths drooling from the possible carnage they could wreak.

Jameson laughed, "I'm sure, but I'm getting off track. As you know, I obviously replaced my eyes with the current optical scanners I am using, which I dubbed Optiks. Real original, I know."

"Anyhow, this is around the time I started hearing about the Kartek Industry. They were a small-time commercial electronics manufacturer, ya know, like music players, fridges, blenders and shit. 4 years ago, we started seeing weapons with their logo hitting shelves in the neighboring sectors. These things weren't your typical Tediore pitch-em-and-switch-em weapons. They had extended magazines, decent tech, and were quite accurate, despite their price."

"Wait, wait, wait." Mordecai said, thinking hard. "Were the paint schemes yellow and black on all of them?"

Nick spoke with anger, "you're fuckin' right they were! How'd ya know?"

"Those sons of bitches!" Mordecai swore, slamming his fist into his chair arm. Everyone stared at him, a little fearful.

Jameson decided to make things a lot clearer. "Lilith, Brick, Mordecai. I remember seeing an Atlas wanted poster with your name on it 5 years ago. You guys were the original 'vault hunters' then, right?"

Lilith answered, unsure of the direction Jameson was taking. "Well, yeah. Why?"

"You remember a small firearms company named S & S Munitions?"

Lilith and Brick's jaws dropped. "No fucking way!" Brick roared.

"Yes, way." Jameson confirmed. "I did some digging on the ECHOnet and found a police report, stating that the bodies of Draco and Anthony "Big Tony" Samson were found in a canyon area on my planet. Their bodies were charred to a crisp, and they could only be identified by their dental records."

"Damn... Those Kartek bastards got some balls to knock off an entire company." Mordecai lamented. "I still have my Orion rifle in storage. Everyone thought they went belly up."

Jameson furrowed his eyebrows. "Um... They did."

"I meant, in the financial sense. Oy." Mordecai sighed, downing a swig of Rakk ale from the bottle in his chair's cup rest.

"Anyhow," Jameson continued. "They started trying to locate inventors. People who tried to either improve or construct brand new tech. They'd bring them into their corporate HQ, but they'd never come out. They were offing anyone they could to get more and more unique goods to sell. After 3 years, they acquired this." He dropped his coat, and pulled up his shirt around his head, revealing a small, green glowing chip at the base of his neck.

Axton chirped, disgusted. "The fuck is that!?" It was grafted and embedded into Jameson's skin, and the nerves it attached to glowed green, like the outside of the chip, and slowly faded at length, making the chip look like a spider with a square body.

"That, my friends, is a security chip, called the BioDrive. It is a chip designed to house your financial and personal data, allowing for monetary transactions using fingerprints and scanners. These were put into mandatory law by Skaerus' government, making it a necessity to have one. However, the fine print wasn't very legible. The current seat holders of our beloved governing offices didn't feel the need to tell us that financial security wasn't the reason these chips were implemented. They were forced on the Skaerusian public to control them. This device is connected directly to the central nervous system, and can interact with the signals of their brains, whether it be a nice healthy shock to a perpetrator being pursued by authorities, or a complete takeover, manipulating the victim to do the Administrator's bidding."

"Who would the administrator be?" Gaige asked.

"Kartek manufactures these chips, and they have full control. They gave the local authorities limited access terminals, but they retain full control. These bastards used the chip to take control of the entirety of politics on skaerus, and they killed those who stood in their way, while 'reprogramming' those with large sources of power, like the Monarch. He's kinda like our president."

"I didn't like these chips from the start, so I decided to find a way to piggyback them, essentially reclaiming administrator permissions on the chip. Nick helped a ton wi-"

"I got zapped, is what I did." Nick interrupted. "These things have a safety feature that if you try to remove them or fuck with em, they zap you. I was the god damned guinea pig, and I can recall at least 20 times this asshole fried me. And this isn't a normal 'stuck-a-paperclip-in-a-socket' shock. These things zap you, and you're out cold for at least 2 hours. Once he made a functioning device, he shocked me on purpose whenever I made fun of him!"

"Oh, quit whining, pussy." Jameson jeered. "I could've dropped your ass in a coma, or made you take a dump and stick your forehead in it after I got the chip jumped."

"You forgetting the day you took control of my arm, strictly for making me repeatedly punch myself in the nads?"

The group tried to hold back snickers and giggles, and they were failing. Miserably.

"It ain't funny!" Nick screamed.

Jameson spoke again, an evil, beaming smile forming on his face. "Maybe not, but this is..."

"Tess, please execute program... 'Quit hitting yourself'.

Nick went to swing at his partner. "Oh, no you do-" he was met with his own fist in his face.

"AHHH GOD DAMMIT! You prick!" Nick grabbed his nose, which took the brunt of his self-inflicted impact. The Raiders completely lost their shit. Mordecai fell on the floor, geeking his lungs out. Lilith had her face buried in her hands, trying desperately to keep herself quiet. Maya was boisterously giggling and pointing. Brick was coughing, gasping for air from laughing so bad. Gaige and Axton were holding onto each other trying to stay standing, but inevitably failed, and collapsed onto the floor, laughing their heads off. Zero stood at the door with [ LOL ] flashing repeatedly on his helmet as he doubled over, clutching his stomach.

"That was damn funny! / What goes around comes around! / Oh, the irony!" Zero's comment made everything even worse, practically everyone was on their knees or back or stomach on the floor, geeking out uncontrollably.

Jameson simply turned to his red-faced partner. "Now, we're good. I'm gonna find a place to grab a beer. I need one after all this. I'll continue the story in a bit. Those who wish to join, come along!"

He grabbed his jacket and began to head out the door, everyone else in tow, Leaving Nick steaming back at the HQ. He was satisfied with his vengeance for Nick's earlier, humiliating comment, and now he needed some food, and a frosty beverage.

* * *

A/N: Thank you! F/F/R if ya like it so far!

Seeya Next Time! HA HAAA!

Trep


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Hello! FINALLY MORE COMBAT! ABSINTHE! FUN TIMES TO BE HAD! Stay tuned. more to come!

Trep

* * *

Chapter 5: mingle amongst the commoners

"Alright, Lilith. Where's the nearest place to get a bite to eat?"

Jameson and the group were still trying to gain their composure from the episode in the HQ. It was beginning to get dark, and everyone was practically starving.

"That place would be 'Moxxxi's', which is right down the road." Lilith took the lead, and everyone filed into the bar. The music was loud, and the atmosphere was dark, save a few bright lights that shone on the voluptuous bartender, who was busying herself washing mugs.

They segregated themselves into booths, the old vault hunters at one, Krieg, Maya, and Gaige at the booth directly behind, and Axton, Salvador, and Zero at the booth directly across. Jameson decided to sit beside Gaige, who was the furthest away from the group. It didnt take very long for Moxxi to trot over to take their orders.

"Well there... It's been awhile since I've seen a new face in here." Her attention was drawn to Jameson, who smirked.

"Just arrived today, Hun. You must be the imfamous 'Moxxi of the Underdome'. I used to watch your ECHOcasts of the fights back when I was on Skaerus." Spoke Jameson.

"Hah! Guilty as charged. I'm glad to see I have a fan outside this hellhole of a planet." Moxxi cooed. "What's your name, Sugar?"

"Jameson."

"Well, what'll it be, sweetie? I'm sure you didn't tag along with them to just sit here."

I'll have a baller of your most potent liquor, please." Jameson asked.

"Well, aren't you just the gentleman? I'll be right out. The usual for the rest of ya?" Moxxi asked. Everyone nodded in agreement.

When Moxxi had gone into the back, Jameson piped up, "So, you didn't answer my question, Lil."

"About what?" She asked. "Sirens?" He nodded.

"Well, to be honest, we don't know a whole lot about our lineage. We know that only 6 of us can exist at any given time, each of us gets a crazy-ass power, and that we are reactant to eridium, as well as anything having to do with the Vaults. When Jack was still alive, he used me against my will, to charge the Vault Key."

Jameson took this all in, thinking for a moment. "Soooo, what's your power?"

"I can phaseblast. Basically, I can disappear from this dimension into another, and back again. Over the years, though, I have figured out ways to move other people and things through the other dimension as well, kinda acting like teleportation. Offensively, its awesome, because whenever I fade out or 'come back to reality', it creates a violent explosion, like a black hole or something. Its sick."

Gaige laughed, "Sick, as in nauseating! Every time she poofs us somewhere, I nearly barf!" Various giggles emitted from each of the booths.

Jameson turned to Maya. "And yours?"

"I have the power of 'Phaselock'. I can wrap my enemies in an interdimensional sphere, Which paralyzes them inside. I can inflict pain from the outside, pain from the inside, or simply compact the sphere and smush whatever may be inside. If I phase lock my allies, the sphere can put them in a healing stasis as well." Maya informed.

"Interesting..." Jameson pondered to himself. "I want to try something sometime... I have a lab in my ship, and I wish to perform an experiment." The two sirens immediately grew wide-eyed and defensive. "Nonononono, relax. I wish to try to capture a sample of your power while you use it."

"Umm... You better explain just what the hell you mean by that, quickly, before Maya here crushes you to purée." Lilith threatened. Experiments involving them in the past never seemed to work out for them in the long run, and usually meant them getting hurt.

"Alright, alright chill the hell out a minute." Jameson tried to calm them down. "I make ammunition that is capable of more than just making a hole in something. What if I were to find a way to duplicate your powers? Or make new effects on its own? Lilith... Imagine shooting an enemy, and they just vanish into thin air? Maya, imagine being able to hose an army with bullets, and having them all be pooled into a phaselock? Or even... You know what? We'll just see what we can do. But I won't do anything without your permission. I'm not a tyrant or a mad scientist... I'm just a weaponsmith."

Lilith and Maya looked at each other for a few seconds.

"We'll see." Said Maya.

"Your pizza, and beverages, everyone!" Moxxi rolled out 4 boxes of her Pandora-famous pizza, along with a large amount of bottles of Rakk Ale, and one small baller glass filled with a clear, green liquid.

Everyone divvied out the food and beverages, passing the small glass to Jameson, who immediately knew what this beverage was. "Hey Mordecai. Do you consider yourself a connoisseur of alcoholic beverages?"

"Es una broma? Of course! Why?"

Jameson smirked. "Ever try Absinthe?"

Mordecai wrinkled his nose. "The hell is Absinthe?"

Jameson grinned from ear to ear, and grabbed his ECHO. "Nick! Get over to Moxxi's. Everyone's waiting for ya!"

A resounding "Fuck. You." Was his reply. Jameson facepalmed while a few of the others giggled.

"Absinthe. My treat... CMON, you know it's the best damned drink in all the galaxies."

There was a long pause, that seemed to last for minutes.

"Be right there. Gonna grab the kit." Nick replied. Jameson laughed heartily. This was the duo's favorite beverage, and they liked to drink it in its traditional preparation. Jameson yelled to Moxxi, "Hey Moxx, how many bottles of that stuff do ya have?"

"Depends on your funds, sweetie. Wormwood grows naturally in Jakob's cove, and I know a guy. You got the scratch, you got the drink." Moxxi replied. Jameson handed her what looked like a small fortune in bills. "Pleasure doin' business, sugar." she hurriedly sprinted to the back of the bar.

"So you gonna explain this shit, hombre? Salvador spoke.

Jameson glanced at the small, stocky man for the first time since they set foot from the HQ. "Well, its an extremely potent spirit, made from wormwood and a spice called anise. It has a sort of black licorice taste, if you've ever eaten that. Either way, it was rumored to have hallucinogenic properties-"

Salvador interrupted, "hallua- hominawhooey whatey? English please!" This caused the room to erupt in laughter. Everyone stopped abruptly when they heard a voice behind them.

"It means it's supposed to make you trip BALLS." Nick had emerged from the outside, holding a series of boxes. In one, had old clear glasses in them, which seemed as if they would hold 2 shots worth of liquid in them. Another, little white cubes and a metallic, flat spoon, with slits in the middle.

Nick copped a squat in the open seat at Axton's table, and began to set out enough glasses for everyone to try some. At that time, Moxxi had once again emerged, carrying two large, square glass bottles, filled with the viscous fluid, and set them down in front of Jameson, whom handed one to Nicholas.

"We good?" Jameson asked.

Nick uncorked his bottle and began to breathe in the essence of the fluid inside. His eyes lit up, and a deranged smile crept over his face. "Awe HELL YEAH." He screamed. This drew more giggles from the group.

"Now, drinking this stuff is more an art then it is simply ingesting alcohol. To thoroughly enjoy it, you HAVE to prepare it JUST RIGHT." Jameson informed, and turned his attention to Nick, who was still setting up. "Moxxi, one more thing. You have any distilled water?"

"Sure thing, sweetie." She went to the back once again, and brought out a large box of plastic bottles of water and set it in the empty booth near them.

Nick had set the pewter spoon on top of one of the glasses, and set one of the white cubes on top. He measured out half a glass of Absinthe and poured it over the cube and into the empty glass below. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Zippy lighter, and set the cube ablaze.

Jameson began speaking again. "Absinthe is a sophisticated drink, and although it is alcoholic, can be enjoyed any time in the day without scrutiny." He laughed at his own words, and Nick reached for a bottle of water and uncapped it.

The flaming cube had began to melt and drip into the glass, setting the entire mixture on fire, burning a luminescent blue. Nick then dropped the cube from the spoon into the glass, and doused the flames with the bottled water, filling it slowly. After it had cooled, he handed the glass to Mordecai.

The hunter raised the glass to his nose and swirled the liquid, taking in the scent of the drink. he tilted his chin up, and spoke in an accent similar to Hammerlock. "The aroma is potent, but not offensive." He tried to make himself sound distinguished, but failed miserably, and hilarity ensued.

He took a small sip of the green fluid and his face instantly lit up. "Madre de dios! This shit is awesome!"

By this time, Nick had already set up 4 glasses ready to drink. "Indeed it is." Jameson stated.

"Lemme get somma DAT!" Salvador ordered, and snatched a glass, downing it in one gulp, gaining the same shit-eating grin as Mordecai. "Me GUSTA!" He roared in delight, causing everyone to cough and gag on their respective food and/or beverage. "Fuck rakk ale. This shit is the shit!"

Soon, everyone was enjoying an iced glass of the glorious drink, and Jameson continued his story where he left off, at the behest of the others.

"Well, after I was able to bypass the chip, we dropped off of the Skaerusian radar. We didn't want to be found out, because they'd kill us for sure. I built the ship you seen, preparing for a way off of the planet. It took tons of time to actually scavenge all the parts needed. Took me 20 months to finish it, and another 3 to relocate all our things onto the ship. The problem was... Kartek had finally got a gridlock on our position. Apparently a week before they attacked us, they had captured the four other members of our little gang while they were out on a sweep. Caleb, Slater, Kahn, and Foley were interrogated, and given the option to turn us in and live, or die. They chose to sell us out, and the bastards led Kartek right to us. My home was burned to the ground, firebombed by the Industry Militia. We ran to the ship and launched through the ruins of my estate, taking heavy fire as we ascended. Luckily, the shields held out just long enough to get us out of range, and breach the planets atmosphere."

Nick looked to the floor. "I thought those guys were my friends, that they'd watch my back, even when knee-deep in shit. They were cowards, and because of that, they were killed before the bombardment."

Jameson looked up at the former vault hunters. "And the rest you already know. Now we're just looking for somewhere to call home again."

Lilith got up and squatted between the two refugees. "Boys, you've found one." She patted them both on the back, and grabbed their arms, lifting them from the tables.

"Welcome to the Raiders, boys. You're gonna have a hell of a lotta fun here."

After a couple bottles of the glorious green beverage between the gang, Mordecai had an uneasy feeling as he stared around the room.

"Umm, any of you guys seeing any weird, freaky shit?"

* * *

"Alright, ladies and germs, we got a mission! Who's coming along?!"

The duo had since returned to their ship to migrate to a makeshift docking site on the outskirts of overlook. After getting landed and set up, it was Axton's voice they heard over their ECHOs.

Nick was the first to respond. "Details?"

"We're going on a little trip to the Headstone Mine. Crazy Earl says there's a slew of bandits there mining for eridium and other valuable metals. Obviously the crazy bastard wants some of the red rock for himself."

Lilith jumped on her ECHO to elaborate. "Alright, about 6 years ago, the old crew of vault hunters battled a bandit boss named Sledge in the refinery section of the mine. It seems that the bandits have repopulated the area and rebuilt it. This is undoubtedly the area where Bandit manufactured weapons get their materials. If we cut off their supply, and take over the mine, we'll put a big clamp on the incoming weapons to the bandit camps."

Nick replied, "I'm in. Jameson?"

A long pause.

"Jameson!"

"Oh! Yeah I'm coming. Nick, meet me in the lab. I've done some modifications to your Sword Rifle I'm SURE you'll love." Jameson had been in the lab all morning, tinkering with Nicholas' favorite weapon.

Nick quickly ran into the lab in excitement. It had been a long time since Jameson had any daylight to burn to make enhancements. He was met with 2 parallel blades and a barrel an inch away from his face. But Jameson was smirking, holding his gun almost 7 feet away.

"As you know, your rifle is made from lightened titanium alloys. I attached a barrel extension, and two much larger bayonets, that are digiscanned into this expansion chip, and can be executed under the SR operating system. They can be configured on the fly, and ran by 'her'."

A small figure of a woman materialized to stand on the chip. She was beautiful, with sweeping green hair, white luminescent skin, and a red outline, forming a deeper red jumpsuit that was skin-tight, and cut off above the knee and at elbows length.

"Well, hello there, gorgeous!" Nick spoke to his new AI partner. "What should I call you?"

The AI, surprisingly, blushed. "Jameson constructed me to help you, but he left giving me a name in your care. So it's up to you, Nick." She spoke with a sassy, yet compassionate tone of voice, soft and piercing at the same time.

"I shall call you Kaira. Do you like that?"

The AI thought for a moment. "How about... Just... Kai? Its short, and easier to call in battle." Apparently Jameson had used a lot of Tess' coding to construct her, as she was sentient as well.

"Fair enough. Kai it is!" He took the chip from his partner and placed it in the port console between his ribs and right arm, which made Kai appear in his hand. "So, Kai, can ya do me a favor and tell me all the new features I can use?"

"Well, you already know about the adjustable bayonet and barrel. You also have a chip in your SR now that allows me to do these adjustments when you ask."

"That's fuckin awesome! Anything else?" Nick was absolutely giddy. Like a 4-year-old on Christmas.

"Jameson also configured a Tediore Reload system into your SR. So you can chuck it and it'll blow up." This made Nick giggle like a schoolgirl. "One last thing... There's a switch on the handle. Press and hold it, then flick with your wrist."

Nick did as he was told. Instantly, the center of the bayonets shifted, revealing little holes in the blade, and it immediately ignited in a coating of blue flame, trailing from the tips, covering the outside of the rifle.

"Holy shit! This. Is. Fucking. RIDICULOUS!" Nick shouted with glee. He had a flaming sword that shot 10mm rounds that defied physics. A resounding FUCK YEAH.

Kai began to explain. "Now, a warning about your fiery new upgrade: this enhancement takes a great toll on your solar core before its forced into energy saver mode. Your Solar core can charge from 5% to 100% in a matter of 8 minutes in direct sunlight, but this trick will drain it back down to 5% in 30 seconds flat. This will also shorten your rifle to normal size, and your core will steal power from your shields, leaving you quite vulnerable to fire after power down. Use this with caution, cuz if you dont, it means both of us are fried."

Jameson also reiterated. "You know how the solar core works with my UFS. Its the same for you. Just be careful and you'll be fine.

Nick practically hugged his partner. He'd done so much for him in the past, and now he'd given him a weapon only conceivable in a combat specialist's wildest dreams. "Thanks, bro. Its incredible."

"Yeah, yeah, your welcome. Now leggo. Don't be getting all weird on me."

"Dude. You know homie don't play dat shit." Nick scoffed. He placed his SR diagonally on his back and the blades and barrel retracted to their original form. He also noticed a neat chain linked emblem protruding about 3 feet from the end of the handle. He held it in his hand to see the chip with a 'JS' Etched into it.

"There's just one thing." He paused for a moment, pondering.

"Kai."

"Yes, Nick?" The AI replied.

"Change the name. SR system is so dull."

"What would you like it to be called?"

Nick's face twisted into an evil smile. "Firebrand."

* * *

Everybody met up at Titans end. Lilith, surprisingly, was there too.

"Alright, gang. This is gonna be a simple sweep mission. Your target is the refinery on top of the cliffside. You'll have to take the mine shafts around to access the lift elevator, but be on guard. Mordecai?"

He had scouted this area before they arrived. "The typical bandit putos are your main resistance, and it looks like there are two turrets surrounding the refinery entrance, and 4 on the perimeter. Zero and I will provide sniper support from the rooftops once we clear the perimeter gate. If shit gets crazy in close quarters, radio us, and Zero will provide assistance. Everyone else is on the front line. Looks like anywhere from 100 to 120 guys in there. Stick to your cover, and advance slowly."

Axton and Salvador bumped fists, excited to lay waste to anything that stood in their way. Maya, Lilith, and Gaige walked slowly in the direction of the mine, while zero and Mordecai were checking their rifles. Mordecai decided to bring his old Orion along, while Zero was using a freshly cleaned Lyuda. Nick and Jameson were booting their weapons systems. Brick and Krieg were already ahead, wailing on anything and everything in the camp by titan's end's travel station. After the camp was clear, Brick radioed in.

"Alright, camp's clear! Let's get a move on!"

Salvador, Axton, Krieg and Brick took the lead as they hoofed it to Headstone mine, everyone else in a gaggle behind them. After they had moved inside, Mordecai advanced in to take a look. Just then, a bullet whizzed past him, punching a dent in the small shed he leaned against. He quickly dove back behind cover as a hail of buckshot peppered where he stood.

"Joder! That was close!" Mordecai shrieked.

Lilith pointed to Axton and Salvador, who proceeded to dart from cover. Axton chucked out 2 turrets, while Salvador whipped out 2 torgue quad-barrel shotguns and hosed the bandits from inside the shield. "GIT SUMMM!" Salvador screamed as he reloaded for another volley of gyrojets, while Axton sprayed a clip of ammunition into some oncoming psychos. Krieg jumped out and ran full sprint, leaping into the air and slamming his monstrous buzz-axe into a marauder's skull, the axe gritting down into the unfortunate bandits chest, until it cleaved him completely in two. He then proceeded to fling an axe at one of the four turrets, exploding on impact. This sent the bandit controlling the turret flying deeper into the mine.

"Holy shit! That guy's nuts!" Said Jameson.

Maya laughed, "You have no idea!" Her giggles turned sour. "Badass bruiser!" She leapt from the safety of the shed along with Gaige. Maya caught the monstrous bandit in a phaselock, and Gaige summoned her trusty metal companion, Deathtrap, who began furiously swiping at the brute with its claws. Gaige had pulled out an incendiary rifle and unloaded on her robot pet, lighting him ablaze, and in turn, lighting the bruiser up as well. In a matter of seconds, the supposed 'badass' was nothing more than scattered ash. 3 turrets, and a small chunk of bandits still littered the corpse-filled canyon, when the duo decided to have a little fun themselves.

"My turn my turn my turnnnnnn!" Nick vaulted from the cover and held his sword out at arms length, and flicked the red dot sight on. Quickly, he fired 2 rounds into an unlucky bandit who popped his head above his cover a moment too late. His skull erupted with fluid and brain matter spraying the wall behind him. 5 psychos emerged from a nearby storage shed and sprinted towards him, axes and pipes drawn.

"Kai! Boot it up!" The blades and barrel extended to their full length. He twirled his SR, catching it with the blade pointing down, and he clenched the button and flicked, setting the blades aglow. As the psychos advanced on him, he dropped the sword a little to grasp the chain, and proceeded to swing the monstrous blade freely against the psychos, catching the first at the elbow of his left arm. The blade simply floated through the maniac, cleaving him at the elbows, and slicing through his chest, bisecting him. The psycho wailed in agony as his top half fell from his lower torso, and spilled the contents of his chest cavity on the dusty ground.  
"I live for this shit!" Nick bellowed, as he chucked his sword at 2 psychos who were about 10 feet from him. The first ate the blade, which swung through him like a hot knife through butter. The second was worse, as he was smacked by the handle... Which proceeded to detonate and send his limbs and head several yards into the distance, disintegrating his chest in the process.

Nick watched as his blade rematerialized in his hand, just as a hail of turret rounds landed at his feet. The flames died on his sword, and he dove for a wooden crate to his left while his solar core began sapping at his shield.

"Hah! Amateur shit!" Laughed Jameson. "Lemme show you how a pro fights!" He held up his small pistol, which quickly flashed to his previous UFS configuration.

"Tess! ACTIVATE THE RAILGUN!"

The weapon in his hands morphed to a long rifle, with a large mechanism in the center wound with golden wire. The rifle looked like a giant tube, with the firing mechanism sitting behind. A large steel slug digistructed inside the tube, and immediately began spinning violently inside the gold-wrapped chamber. Jameson calmly stood from cover and aimed at the closest turret, and fired. The slug shot out with such velocity, you could see the sound barrier being broken as the rifle kicked into Jameson's arm and propelled the slug. Instantaneously, it shot through the turret, and left a long hollow shaft in the miner's cliff side. Jameson ducked behind cover just as the turret erupted in flames.

Another round materialized in the chamber and he ducked out and fired again. The powerful slug tore through the second turret, and the nearby pipeline, spilling slag all over the area behind the gates. He ducked down again, and his gun returned to its dull, square shape as before, signifying his core could not power another shot without causing the system to fail.

"Top that!" Jameson said with a chuckle as he waited for his core to recharge.

"Hijo due puta! What the fuck was that?!" Mordecai exclaimed.

"I'll explain once we're done! Who's gonna take out that last turret?!"

Salvador stood up from another wooden crate, a Norfleet and a Nukem in hand. "I got dis shit!" He unloaded the launchers at the final turret, which detonated in a violent series of explosions and flying shrapnel.

"Overkill, much?" Scoffed Jameson with a grin.

Gauge chuckled. "Says the guy who just annihilated TWO turrets with a GODDAMN RAILGUN!" she stifled giggles between her words.

"Got the job done, didn't it?" Jameson mused.

Krieg had just returned, strutting like royalty, holding the head of another unfortunate marauder. The area was clear, and they could advance into the mine. Krieg took a few steps and punted the severed head, sending it careening into a window of the nearby refinery.

"IT'S GOOOOOOOOOD!"

* * *

A/N: AAAAAND That's chapter 5! Sorry to end halfway through the mission, but 4000 words, HOLY HELL! Stay tuned! F/F/R and thank you very much :D

SEEYA NEXT TIME! HA HAA!

Trep


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Chapter 6! YAY! Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 6: The Takeover

The group had ascended the lonely set of stairs of the cliffside entrance to the mine. As they walked through, they heard shuffling and chatter at the other end. Apparently, despite the commotion of storming the front gates, they hadn't made enough noise to disturb the rest of the area. Go team!

Zero advanced ahead and cloaked upon reaching the end of the mine. Explosions were heard outside, followed by painful wails of unfortunate bandits meeting their gruesome ends. A disembodied flaming arm flew past the entrance to the group's hiding spot, sailing fist-first into a nearby dirt mound, leaving a trail of thick blood in its travels.

Krieg was amazed by this. "They have MEAT ROCKETS! It MUST be my birthday! TIME TO LIGHT THE CANDLES!" He promptly burst into flames, and flew in a dead sprint towards the screams of his prey. He loudly sang to himself as he cleaved the bandits to bloody pieces.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEE! *Shnk!* "ULGH!"

IM ON A FLESH CHOPPING SPREE! *Shnk!* *gurgle*

YOUR FACE LOOKS APPEALINGGGG.. *Thwack!* "huuuurlgh!"

LEEEEEEEEEEEETS TASTE IT AND SEE!"

He thrust his axe between the eyes of a yelping marauder, causing blood and brain matter to splatter against his facemask.

"I have showered in your thinking bits! Your knowledge is DELICIOUS!" He spotted a lone bandit, the last in that area, trying to crawl away and escape. He ripped the leg of his last kill clean off in a single tug, and dashed towards the coward, smashing him in the back of the head with the leg of his deceased friend.

"BEST! *thoump!* "Ow!"

"BIRTHDAY! *thoomp!* "oooolffh!"

"EVER!" *thoomp!* "AUGHH!"

The burning psycho continued with beating the bandit until he no longer breathed, caving a massive crater in the coward's mask. He chuckled to himself as the rest of the group made their way out from the mineshaft to see the utter carnage and chaos that Zero and Krieg had bestowed upon the local bandit population.

Mordecai laughed. "Well, that's one way to get the job done, amigos."

Jameson spoke up. "So how much more terrain do we have to cover?" Headstone mine's layout had been taken off the ECHOnet some time ago. Due to the original Vault hunters battle and victory against Sledge, it was presumed to be deserted.

"Well, we got another large area around the refinery itself. The remaining two turrets are in that sector, just around this rail cart depot." Mordecai informed. "The turrets in this area are auto-guns. It'll take a bit more to take 'em down."

Jameson lit up. "I got an idea. Hold position for a moment. Tess, thermals."

"You got it!" Jameson's vision became a vibrant blue, and he could see several red heat signatures. Four of them were HUGE, meaning badass bruisers or psychos. That's a problem.

"We've got a least 30 guys in there... four of 'em are monsters. Tess, e-vision please." He spoke and his field of sight warped again, into a dingy, dark blue. He looked around And spotted some white currents, meaning an electrical source. He viewed the two turrets as they shifted autonomously, searching for a hostile target. The wires that hooked to them were ran to a gigantic white box. 'A generator,' he thought.

"Alright, I'm gonna take out the turrets, and I'm gonna have to back down. Axton and Salvador, I'm gonna need you guys. After I make my shot, I'm gonna be severely vulnerable to incoming fire, and that dome shield you have will come in handy. There's barely any cover here. the rest of you, bum rush on three, OK?" Everyone nodded.

"Alright, then. Tess! Time to bring out the Railgun." The UFS once again reconstructed into the giant tube of death. A slug digistructed in the chamber and began to rotate. "One." He steadied his gun against him and took aim at the generator, still in E-vision. "Two." He reached for the trigger as he tensed.

"Three!" The slug rocketed through the rail cart depot, unhindered by the concrete and wood as it continued to its destination, piercing a badass bruiser and puncturing the generator. It immediately began to short and overheat, causing a violent explosion that embedded shrapnel in most of the bandits. Two midgets were unfortunate enough to have been killed instantly as a piece of the dead generator penetrated their skull. The entirety of the bandit forces left in the area were wiped out almost instantaneously. It was only minutes before they reached the elevator shaft to the refinery.

"Alright, guys. Check your ammo. I got a feeling this ain't over yet." Lilith warned.

As they reached the top, Jameson decided to look for himself to see what they were up against. "Tess, thermal please." He noticed the entire room was hot, but there was only one figure in the room, and not a large one.

"We got one bogey inside. Not much of a threat, either. Unusual."

The team charged through the lift doors, and stopped, gawking in astonishment at what they saw: a small, slender woman with bandit-esque clothing cut at the shoulders to expose her arms. She was a vibrant blonde, almost gold in color.

But that wasn't the alarming issue here... She had thick blue lines that traced down her arms in a whispy, almost tribal fashion, which immediately gave away her lineage: she was a siren.

She spoke, with her back still turned to them. "So, you guys must be the infamous 'Crimson Raiders' I keep hearing about."

Lilith didn't give the blonde siren any more time to speak. "Who are you, and what the hell are you doing here?"

The mysterious blonde turned around to face them. Her face was pale, and her eyes were a fluorescent orange. Her face twisted into a smile. "Calm down, chica. I'm not here to hurt anyone, but I won't hesitate if you try to pull somethin'. My employer has been trying to find you guys for awhile." As she spoke, she pulled her ECHO from her belt, and held it up to show the Raiders. Lilith was immediately enraged when she saw the face on the screen.

"BLAKE?!"

"Oh my. Is that any way to greet an old friend?"

Lilith was furious. "Well, I'm sorry to seem a tad bitchy, but you, well, you know... WORK FOR THE COMPANY THAT KILLED ROLAND! HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO ACT!?"

"Please allow me to explain my reasons of contacting you. I apologize for the ignorance and totalitarianism of our deceased and unwanted president. Because of this, I wish to make you an offer." Blake informed.

Lilith sighed and rubbed her temples. "I know I shouldn't even bother to waste my time with this, but explain."

Blake began. "When Jack became president of Hyperion, he ousted anyone of real power to continue to hold his indefinitely. He used this to do whatever he wanted, and the goals he had in mind were heinous. I never wanted anything to do with them, and simply stayed out of his way. I attempted multiple times to have him taken out of office, but Wilhelm nixed that. Cost me a lot of money, he did. After I had heard of your efforts to take Jack down, I was rooting for you. He was going to destroy this company and everything we worked and strived to create. After I received word that he was defeated at Hero's Pass, I immediately rallied our troops and employees, and took the reigns of this company on my own."

"The point is, I want to thank you for your efforts, and the offer I speak of... I would like to discuss in person. If you accept, the only person who will be accompanying me will be Miss Jacqueline."

The siren piped up. "That's me, by the way. Hi!"

Blake sighed and facepalmed. "As a gesture of gratitude, and to further attempt to prove the goodwill of my leadership of Hyperion, I have delivered a series of shipments to the town known as Overlook. If you choose to proceed, Miss Jacqueline may schedule a time and place for us to meet. I look forward to hearing from you." And with that, the ECHO screen went blank.

Lilith was puzzled. "So, Miss Jacqueline-"

"Jackie."

"Jackie... You work for Hyperion?" Lilith asked.

"No, I work directly for Mr. Blake. I am a mercenary for hire from Eden-6. After this meeting, my contract is set to end."

"Well, whaddya gonna do after that?" Maya stepped up to ask.

"Well, I haven't decided yet, to be honest. I may go back home, I dunno. I like it here. Plenty to kill, plenty money to be made."

"I see." Maya eyed her tattoos, which were much like her own. "So, what is your siren ability?"

"I have the ability of Phasemind. Telekinesis, telepathy, and mind control. Anything dealing with the brain is my drawing board. That's how I kept the bandits here in line as I waited for you."

Lilith was still confused as hell. "So this was all a setup? How did you know we'd come here?"

"Who do you think tipped off your friend Earl?"

Lilith chuckled. "Fair enough."

Maya was thinking, and thinking hard... 'This siren could manipulate the mind.' She thought. She looked over at Krieg for a moment before addressing Jackie. "Would you be able to demonstrate your powers?"

"Sure, what do you wanna see?"

Maya walked calmly over to Krieg and dragged him forward to stand next to her. "I want you to try something." She looked over at Krieg, who was twitching his head back and forth, restless. "I met him almost a half a year ago. He saved my life from a pack of tunnel rats, and since then has joined us in our adventures. He has the mentality of a psycho, but he wouldn't hurt anyone that was innocent or friendly. I think what he used to be, before he became the giant meat-loving monstrosity you see now, is still in there somewhere...

Krieg took this time to promptly pummel himself in the face a few times. "NEXT TIME, IT'S THE DANGLY PARTS, LITTLE MAN!"

"I tried to communicate with him, and have failed ultimately. I want to be able to talk to him. To understand him. I owe him my life a million times over, and I just wish I could tell that little voice of my gratitude to him."

A lot of the group had always seen an odd friendship between Krieg and Maya. They always sat together. She always laughed when he would spout off his maniacal drabble. But she never was able to understand him, and she longed so much to do so. To help him. To bring him back from wherever his mind had gone before they met.

"I'll see what I can do, chica." She walked to Krieg and placed a palm against his mask, which he oddly didn't fight. Her arm began to glow a radiant purple, and Krieg's exposed eye lit up the same for a few moments. The psycho started to whimper and panic, but stopped abruptly. What he did next brought gasps and surprise from the entire group.

He spoke a sentence. Not his usual insane murmering and screaming, but an actual, articulate and understandable sentence.

"Calm down, buddy. She means no harm." The siren let go of his mask and stepped back. The brute's eye grew wide with astonishment, unable to believe the words that came from his mouth... So normal, so human. He slowly, shakily reached with both hands towards his mask, sliding it up over his face and letting it drop on the metal grating behind him. As it fell to the floor, he examined his hands as he turned them over and back again slowly. His face was surprisingly scar-free, and pale from the years of wearing the mask. His right eye was apparently removed years ago, replaced by a simple white replacement, devoid of any color.

"I'm... I'm in control... I'm in..." His voice was quiet, and it quivered as he spoke. "I'm me again." He turned to the Raiders, who still stood in amazement, gawking at their comrade. His eye was filled with tears, and his lips quivered as he faced them. Maya ran to him and pulled his face into her hands.

"What's my name? Krieg, what's my name?"

Krieg looked her in the eyes. "M... Maya. MAYA! You're name is Maya!"

"Oh my god..." Maya whispered, her voice shaky from the lump beginning to form in her throat. She couldn't hold in her emotions as tears formed and streamed down her pale cheeks, and she collapsed against the psycho, burying her face into his shoulder. Krieg was overwhelmed with joy... They both slowly collapsed to their knees, hugging tightly and sobbing heavily into each other, pouring out every feeling they had pent up inside them, their backs heaving as their sobs took their breath away.

Maya rocked with him, back and forth slowly. "Thank you... Thank you..." She whispered between sniffs for air.

After a few minutes with her, Krieg left her grasp and walked to the siren responsible for freeing his mind. "Jacqueline... You have no idea how much this means to me... Thank you so much." He turned to face the group. "Thank you so much for sticking by me, despite my 'predicament'. You guys are the best friends anyone could ask for." With that, the group ran to embrace their renewed comrade, laughing and crying alike.

Mordecai was the first to speak. "So, what do we call you now, amigo? I'm sure your real name isn't Krieg."

"You're right. Before I became 'Krieg', my name was Aidan Blitz." He chuckled. "I guess I am again."

Lilith left the group to approach the blonde siren. "When your contract is up with Hyperion, We want to hire you. Even if this offer with Blake goes south, you've earned my trust, and we'd be honored to have you."

"The honor is mine, Lilith. I take it you're going to have a bunch to talk about tonight, aren't you?"

"Oh yeah."

"So is the Krieg we know gone for good?" Salvador asked the former psycho.

"Well, let's just say he's pissed." Aidan said.

"Whaddya m-"

Aidan's face contorted, his mouth souring and his eyes squinting.

"GIMME MY MEAT SUIT BACK!"

Everyone stared wide-eyed at Aidan, his outburst scaring the shit out of them.

"...What? I told you he was pissed."

* * *

A/N: Well, Yup. Made Krieg sane(ish), and added an OC siren. It's been quite a day.

SEEYA NEXT TIME! HA HAAA!

Trep


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: HELLO AGAIN! I know it's been almost 2 weeks, but its tough trying to keep track of what all the chars are doing... XD Here's the newest installment of ROABP!

* * *

Chapter 7: Splitting Image

"So umm... Dafuq was that?" Lilith asked.

Jackie laughed. "Well, your friends mind was actually quite shattered. His emotions were completely separate from each other. They must have segregated the moment the split in his mind happened. Because of that, I couldn't eliminate the Krieg persona altogether. Looks like your old friend is here to stay."

Maya glanced towards Aidan. "So now Krieg is a voice inside your head?"

"It seems he has a little more control than I did. He's able to speak through me, but I control the body." Aidan was trapped in the confines of his own head for years, and this newfound freedom was incredible.

Jackie walked forward to address Aidan. "Now that you are the dominant controller of this body, you can bring out this 'Krieg' whenever you want, allowing you to fight just as furiously as before."

"Well, how would I go about doing that?" Just then, his face twisted into an evil grimace. Aidan pulled his buzz axe from his back, and whalloped himself in the face. Blood poured from the fresh wound made in his forehead, trickling down the side of his face. His tongue reached from his lips and lapped at the small stream of crimson.

"I TASTE LIKE GRAVY AND METAL!" He proceeded to whack himself in the head again.

"Ow! God damnit that hurts!" Aidan cried, resuming control again. "How the hell does this not phase him?!" He reached up to his forehead to try and stop the bleeding.

"Move your hand." Maya said to him before placing her own on his forehead, tattoos glowing. She held her hand there for a good 10 seconds before her tattoos dimmed. When her palm left, it revealed that the fresh wounds were gone, as if they never occurred.

"Haha, that kinda tickled!" Aidan said with a smile. The group chuckled to themselves, especially Maya.

"Aidan, we have a LOT to talk about once we get back to base."

Lilith stepped to the center of the room. "Alright, guys. Looks like we're splitting up from here. Nick, Jameson, Gaige, and Brick: Head to Overlook, and check out the delivery that Blake told us about. Axton, Salvador, Maya and Aidan: head to sanctuary and set up our meeting room. Mordecai, Zero and I will be back shortly."

The teams dispersed to the entrance of the mining complex's fast-travel station.

* * *

"I'll never get used to this..."

Jameson, Nick, Gaige, and Brick arrived in Overlook, with Gaige clutching her head, falling to her knees.

"What's the matter? Motion sickness?" Jameson asked, confused. A wave of pain began in his eye sockets, sharply digging into his skull. "Ow god damn it! Fuck!?" After the skull-shattering pain subsided, he turned to Gaige, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "What the fuck was that?!"

Gaige regained her composure and stood again to her feet. "Our bodies are altered with mechanical parts. When we go through the fast travel, we reassemble at our destination, but our mechanical enhancements take a bit to reintegrate. The shock to the central nervous system hurts like hell. Strangely, the old model Fast Travel stations, like the one in Headstone don't cause it, because they animate all non-biological data first, and integrate with your nervous system as its being constructed. Sanctuary also has the old-style terminal now, which explains why the system shock didn't affect you until now."

"Good to be human!" Brick said with a hearty laugh, which earned him scowls from the two enhanced Raiders.

"Anyhow, let's check out this shipment." Jameson said, walking to a large barge crate that sat on the outskirts of town. A large holographic keypad popped out of the door console once they assembled in front of it.

Gaige frowned. "Shit. Need a password." She held her mechanical wrist up to her lips. "Lilith, we need a code for this crate. It won't open otherwise."

Lilith replied, "Jackie says she has no-" she was interrupted by the new Hyperion President.

"The code is: I hate you. All one word, no spaces."

"Alright then. Just get this thing open. Gettin' kinda boring out here." Nick spoke.

Gaige punched the code in. The holopad retracted from its projection point and the sound of hydraulic pressures could be heard as the barge simply unfolded down the middle, revealing 6 red weapons trunks. The four all had the same look on their face: pure ecstasy.

"LOOOOOOOOOOOT!" Gaige shouted, pushing the buttons on each chest, disengaging their pressure locks. As the tables rose from their respective compartments, the best of the best Hyperion Equipment shone into view. Conference Calls, Bee shields, Invaders, and a very potent Butcher were lifted from their homes. Amongst the glorious armaments were a shotgun, an SMG, a sniper, a pistol and a grenade mod that Gaige didn't recognize, but bore a Hyperion logo, and the word 'PROTOTYPE' etched in the stocks. Gaige scanned the weapons to bring up their details.

"Huh... I got nothing... These are brand new Hyperion firearms. I gotta radio Lil! She's gonna have a rakk hive when she hears about this." She again pulled up her left arm to her lips. "Lil, ya there?"

"Go ahead, killer."

"Blake hooked us up BIG TIME! There's some damn good firepower in here! CC's, a Butcher, and some shit I've never seen! We'll get the crate lifted to Sanctuary, but you gotta see this stuff!"

For the first time since the death of Jack, Lilith was happy about news concerning Hyperion. "No. Way. Did the rest of you's hear that?"

"Hell yeah! Dibs on one of the Conference Calls!" Axton shouted over the ECHO.

"The invader's mine,/ it is a killing machine/ extremely potent."

"Fair enough," Gaige said. "You'd only have to fight with Mordecai anyway."

"Are there any other rifles? I need something to replace my Sloth, and my Orion just isn't as effective as I want it to be." Mordecai sighed.

"Well, there's another rifle here, but you'll have to see it for yourself, Mordy. It looks NASTY." Brick paged his clan of bandits in thousand cuts. "Hey, slabs! We need 6 buzzards in Overlook for supply transport! Your delivery point is Sanctuary! On the double!"

The static cleared up from the other line. "Roger, King! We'll be there before ya know it!"

Nick chuckled to himself. "You have an entire bandit battalion at your disposal. That's insane."

"Whelp, being sane was never my strong suit." Brick said with a bellowing laugh.

* * *

"Alright, Blake. When do you wanna do this?"

"We could meet tomorrow, in the morning hours. Where do you wish this to take place?"

Lilith paused for a moment. "We'll meet in Sanctuary, that way if you pull any funny shit, we can just pitch you into the sea below."

"Now, now, Lilith. If I wanted harm, I wouldn't arm your team with our finest weapons. Not only that, but Miss Jacqueline will be the only accompaniment I will bring."

"That's reassuring. And I apologize if I come off as brash, but Hyperion and the Raiders have a rather hostile history, as you already know. We're not ignorant, just cautious." Lilith sighed. She couldn't let another incident like Roland ever happen again. The Raiders were more than just a platoon of hired hands... They were family, and she couldn't bear to lose another member. "Alright, send us an ECHO when you near the city tomorrow. My men will shoot on sight, otherwise."

"Noted. If your team has any questions about the firearms package I sent, Miss Jacqueline has the info. She will send documentation once she returns to me. I look forward to our meeting, Lilith, and a new beginning in our business relationship." And with that, the feed cut.

"You sure we can trust him, Lil?" Mordecai was just as cautious, having shared his own loss at the cause of Jack.

"No, but I guess we'll find out."

* * *

"Can you guys work on setting up the meeting room? I need to talk with Aidan..."

Maya was still in shock from the events that took place at the mine. Ever since she laid eyes on the hulking man known as Krieg, her whole persona had changed forever. Before her adventure to Pandora, she was a calloused, angry woman, her trust in humanity scarred by the actions of the Order. They raised her from infancy, trained her to use her siren powers. They led her to believe she was a goddess.

The worst part, was that they led her to believe she had a family. That she had people in her life that cared about her, that loved her, that wanted the very best for her. All were lies. They viewed her as a tool, a means to an end, an asset. She was the Order's payday, and nothing more. The day she left for Pandora, she left alone and seething. If it wasn't for Krieg, she may have not even given the others a chance. He saved her life... Yet before that point, she felt her life wouldn't worth the trouble. After the events at the train station, the two were very close, often going on missions together.

"By all means, Maya. We got it covered." Gaige grabbed Axton by the arm as she headed towards the unprepped meeting room.

Aidan sat down next to Maya in the living quarters, plopping heavily on the worn-out couch and turned to face her. "Thank you..."

Maya leaned back, puzzled. "What are you thanking me for? Jackie was the one that fixed you..."

"...For sticking by me. Even up to this point, being in this ragtag group-" his face twitched, and he spat, "NRRRRGH I AM NOT BROKEN!" His face softened just as quick is it soured.

"Is this something I should get used to?" She questioned, wide-eyed.

"Sorry, Maya. He can scream through me practically whenever he wants. Anyhow, this group of raiders, they always feared me... Always judged me... Always felt like I couldn't be trusted. I could sense it in the way that they looked at me, as if they were always prepared to put a bullet in my head at a moment's notice. You, however, looked past the psycho I was, and still kinda am, and tried so desperately to talk to me, to understand me, to decipher the obnoxious, cryptic banter of Kriegs speech... Like you knew 'I' was there all along."

Maya's lip began to quiver, but she stifled her feelings down. "I've... I-I just wanted to talk to you... I wanted to help you... You saved my life at that station, and that told me that the psycho I saw was not the person you used to be. Any other raging lunatic would have attempted to carve my head like a firemelon. Something good had to still be in there."

"The moment I set my gaze on you, Maya... I knew you were just more than this random woman in the middle of a wasteland. Krieg, as much as he won't admit it, was alone, even with my company. But it seems as though he likes you, which is why we spent so much time together."

"I enjoyed it... There is nothing more hilarious than watching krieg kick a midget. And despite him never making much sense, he always made me laugh. We watched each others backs... And we've saved each others lives too many times to count now. The only thing that was missing between us, was sharing what we thought, and how we felt..." She was getting nervous with every word, shifting in discomfort as she spoke. "I never had a true friend before you. I mean, yeah, our comrades are our friends, but you... You've always seemed to be more to me." She looked away as a reddish hue glinted across her cheeks.

"I owe you more than my life, Maya." With that, he leaned over and lightly planted his lips against her forehead, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, and her nuzzling her head into his. "If it weren't for you, I'd have given up on him by now. You kept me alive in there."

She leaned up and looked into his eyes, planting a small peck on his cheek. "Guess we needed each other more than we knew." The two spent the next hour silently sitting, her head nestled in the crook of his muscled chest, his arm around her shoulders, simply enjoying each other's company.

* * *

"Finally... All set up. Wonder what's on the bounty board..."

Axton and Salvador had finished tidying the meeting room, and were quickly becoming bored. They both strolled to Sanctuary's bounty board to check for some new money-making opportunities.

"Dammit, this is gonna suck, but the pay is good." Axton scratched behind his head as the data downloaded into his ECHO

"What's the job?" Salvador groaned.

"Well, it's an in-and-out op. You remember that bandit encampment right outside Three-Horns Valley?"

"Si, why?"

"Seems the bandits have settled in again and have set up a series of gunnery posts along the outer wall. They're hosing down anything that moves out there, including Hammerlock. He's the one giving us the mission."

"Gunnery posts? You mean 'turrets'?" Sal questioned.

Axton sighed. "No... Worse. Towers with armor plating, capable of housing plenty of bandits, who will likely be armed to the teeth. We should go scout it out now while there's still some daylight left. Maybe we can hit 'em after dark."

"Muy bien. This is gon' be fun as hell."

"Damn right." Axton spoke into his ECHO, "Lil, me an' Sal are gonna head out to the Divide to shoot people. Meeting room is set up."

"Ya gettin' paid, kid?"

"Absolutely."

The line was silent for a few seconds. "Have fun, boys. Call Zero if you guys manage to get knee-deep in shit."

Axton smirked and looked over to Salvador. "O, ye of little faith. How dare you doubt our awesomeness, which has been proven many times over. We will be victorious. Over and out." With that, Axton and Sal headed for Pierce Station.

* * *

"I'll go anyway,/ It will be hilarious / When I steal their kills." Lilith had just got off the horn with the commando.

"Dude, that's just mean..." Mordecai sighed, a devilish grin forming on his face. "...I'm in."

"You guys are assholes... Make sure to get their pissy fits on camera." Lilith chuckled.

"Trololololo / lol lololol lololollllll / ho ho ho ho hoooooooo!" Zero and Mordecai bolted for the fast travel station, dematerializing as they warped to the Divide.

* * *

"This thing is LOUD AS HELL, but it's a helluva lotta fun to fly!"

Brick's buzzard team had picked up the boys and Gaige, opting to try out a ride in Brick's newest, custom bird, the Gryphon. Rocko flew it in, and when they had landed, took the copilot chair as Brick sat in the pilot chair, and the others stowed away in the roomy passenger area. The buzzard was massive, sporting 6 turbine engines, a frame twice as wide as a normal buzzard and plenty of cargo space for passengers, with brick's seat placed dead center of the nose.

"So what neat tricks does this thing got, Brick!" Gaige shouted over the ECHO.

"Torgue specialty rocket pods, 2 high caliber chain gun turrets, and some of Tina's custom payloads. If you want sumthin blown up, this is tha bird ta do it! Not only that, this is the fastest buzzard on planet, thanks to Scooter and his "propulsion dohickey'. Its the same as the boosters on his runners."

Nick was grinning ear to ear. He was similar to his partner in the way of being a master of particular sciences. However, while Jameson worked on weapons and computers, Nicholas was a motor fanatic. Cars, trucks, planes, ships... If it had an engine, He could tear it out and put it together again, and guaranteed a 50% increase in performance.

"The hell you waitin' for, then?! Let er rip!"

Brick turned back in his seat. "Be careful what you wish for! If you ain't got yo harness on yet, you betta do that now!" Gaige quickly fastened her seat harness, as Jameson and Nicholas were already buckled in. "Ladies and Gentleman, this is Gryphon pilot Brick speaking. We will be experiencing turbulence in a few short moments, so please reach for your provided oxygen masks above your heads, and render your seat backs and tray tables to their upright position!"

Gaige shouted to him over the whirr of the turbines. "What oxygen masks!? And we sure as hell don't have any damn tray tables!"

"Well then please firmly plant your head between your legs, and kiss your ass goodbye!" Brick flipped a massive switch in the center of the console, and the buzzard engines shifted, migrating lower and turning away from the plane, resting in a star pattern behind the passenger cabin. The floor dropped out and split in two, folding out two massive wings, the floor closing into position on top of them. "Scooter, ya there? This shit is awesome!"

A voice piped up over the ECHO speakers installed in the aircraft. "Finally kickin' in the boosters? SWEET! Lemme know how it works!"

"YOU NEVER USED THEM BEFORE?!" Gaige and Jameson cried in unison, legitimately pissing their metaphorical pants.

"Bout to flip the switch Scooter! Ya wanna do the honors!?" Brick screamed, an ear-to-ear, menacing smile appearing on his face, growing wider by the second.

"Hell yeah!" Scooter screamed as Brick hit the toggle and floored the throttle. "CATCH A RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE!" The jet-like buzzard immediately slammed everyone in their seats with massive pressure, rocketing the ship's speed to well over 150mph as the turbines were kicked into overdrive. Gaige was trying to scream, but the force compressed her lungs to the point that it came out as a soft whisper, Jameson was getting nauseous, and Nick had a shit-eating grin just as big as Brick's.

"MY NADS HAVE BEEN FORCED INTO MY CHEST CAVITY BUT I DONT CAAAAAAAAAAAAREEEEEEEEE!"

Jameson was starting to black out. "I don't feel so.." He was interrupted by a lurch in his stomach. "HRRRRRRRLLLLLLLLLLUHHHHHHHHH!" Due to the fact that the buzzard was still an open cabin design, his bodily rejection forced out of the sides of his mouth, splattering the engine assembly and leaving a green and orange splatter trail in the Gryphons wake. Any that may have gotten on his face or in his hair had simply been blown off by the force of travel.

"Don't get any of that shit on me!" Nick cackled. Rocko and Brick were both wheezing for air as they laughed at their passenger's misfortune.

Brick shouted, "Alright, guess it's time to slow it down, we're just about on top of Sanctuary... It'll take awhile for the rest of my crew to show up." He flipped the big switch again and the bird slowed down immensely, wrenching everyone in their seats as the jet engines reversed back to hovering speeds, and folded back in place along with the wings. "Hey Nick, you ever gone that fast before?"

"Not in the air."

"Neither have I."

* * *

"Well, I'm gonna head back. I wanna see what's all in this little care package."

Lilith had talked briefly with Jackie about their powers and abilities... Jackie was a powerful one, capable of wiping out entire battalions with a thought, much like her 'sisters'. She told Lilith of a previous contract that she had carried out: the disposal of a corrupt company treasurer. She had simply severed the connection between heart and brain, inducing cardiac arrest. No blood, no problem. She claimed to be a mercenary, but was stealthier than their neighborhood friendly assassin.

"Yeah, I'd better get back to Blake. He may try to dock my pay if I take too long. We'll chat after the meeting tomorrow."

Lilith nodded, and lit up in bright purple, phasing back home to Sanctuary, just in time to meet the Gryphon landing outside Scooter's garage. As the crew unloaded, they looked like they were stuck in a wind tunnel. Gaige's pigtails were folded flat against her head, Nicks hair was matted down and sticking out in the back. Jameson fell out of the plane, emptying his stomach again after hitting the ground.

"The hell happened to him?!" Lilith questioned.

"Ha! I kicked the Gryphon into hyperdrive and he lost his lunch. It was hilarious." Brick was beaming.

Nick's face split in a sadistic grin. "Hey Jimmy!"

His partner looked up slowly, moaning in pain. "Wh... What."

"Sanctuary is a FLYING city."

"You son of a HRRRRRLUHHHHHHHHHURRRRRRRRllllllllllllll!"

* * *

A/N: That's all for now! Tune in next time!

Trep


End file.
